Black Star Riders – “All Hell Breaks Loose”

I’m a huge Ricky Warwick fan; from his work in The Almighty to his solo material, the man can do no wrong in my eyes. Well, clearly Warwick won fans in high places with him taking over as the front man for the current incarnation of rock legends Thin Lizzy. Well, roll the clock forward from that point to December 2012 and the band decided to form a new band, going by the name of Black Star Riders, complete with Warwick on vocals – All Hell Breaks Loose being the first fruits of those recording sessions.

Now, like I said, having been a huge fan of Warwick from his days fronting whiskey-drenched, Motorhead-inspired rockers The Almighty, I’m sat here listening to All Hell Breaks Loose and it all seems well, to be honest, a little flat and a little middle of the road. Of course the band is fundamentally the most recent version of Thin Lizzy, but even so, I’m four tracks in where I find myself listening to the Celtic-rock ramblings of “Kingdom Of The Lost” and there appears to be little in the way of hell or anything else in that fact breaking loose.

Ironically, on the next track, Warwick warbles “give me something to celebrate” and you find yourself silently thinking “here! here!”. Dragging on to its conclusion through the meandering “Hey Judas” to “Valley Of The Stones” where the energy levels move up a notch or two, All Hell Breaks Loose is clearly aimed at an audience who daren’t have their blood pressure levels raised too high. For the rest of us, listening to Warwick mutter “I’m a fighter not a lover” on “Before The War”, you’ll be left wondering where the hell all that fight and bite went.

Of course it’s not Warwick’s fault that he was asked to front one of the most legendary rock bands on the planet but, even so, I’m sat here listening to this album again wondering how the hell it turned a tattooed, grumpy-as-fuck rock legend who penned some of the most memorable songs of my youth, into someone who my Dad would probably get on with.

Track Listing:

01. All Hell Breaks Loose
02. Bound For Glory
03. Kingdom Of The Lost
04. Bloodshot
05. Kissin’ The Ground
06. Hey Judas
07. Hoodoo Voodoo
08. Valley Of The Stones
09. Someday Salvation
10. Before The War
11. Blues Ain’t So Bad

Run Time: 45:56
Release Date: May 27, 2013

Check out the song “Kingdom Of The Lost”